Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Another month passed.

Umbra Fox always returned half-haggard and half-dead.

The Blood Fox was very curious about what was happening with the Grandmaster, but not curious enough to leave Aiko’s side.

’You spoil her too much!’ Mei said telepathically while glaring at the Passion Fox.

The Blood Fox ignored the Jade Fox. She would let Aiko lay or sleep on her tails whenever she wanted, since this also allowed her inner voices to calm down. It was a win-win situation for both of them, but Jade Fox didn’t think so.

’She will become a brat if you spoil her too much!’ Mei’s gaze pierced through the Passion Fox, but Passion Fox just shrugged.

The Blood Fox would spoil her to stay with her, which also upset Mei. She found this hilarious as in normal combat she would not be Jade Fox’s match, but with this... this situation devolved into who could spoil Aiko better and upset the other.

The Blood Fox was winning, since she didn’t need to move and only read books.

Meanwhile, Mei needed to move as she was almost constantly refining Pills, which didn’t suit Aiko.

Aiko finished a total of 1,000 Herbs today, there were 99,000 more, but she was so incredibly bored...

...

The Umbra Fox returned to the Grandmaster.

”You are a diligent Disciple.” The Grandmaster said gently.

”Thank you, Master!” The Umbra Fox bowed, incredibly happy inside her mind.

”You also have good senses.” The Grandmaster continued. ”But that won’t be enough to keep up with them.” She then poured cold water over her.

”H-huh?” The Umbra Fox believed she was doing good so far.

”The little one is much more powerful even when she doesn’t cultivate her strength and the Passion Fox is a natural devil when it comes to combat.” The Grandmaster shook her head. ”Even with my training, if you can’t develop your Bloodline, it will be useless.” The Grandmaster explained her reasoning.

”I see...” The Umbra Fox was startled, she believed she would be able to defeat the Vicious Fox and Passion Fox, given enough time.

”Given enough time, they will naturally get stronger.” The Grandmaster chuckled at her naive way of thinking.

”But she is currently poisoned and the Passion Fox is also not training...?” The Umbra Fox was confused. Her peers were left already in the dust thanks to the Grandmaster’s short teaching, but she still couldn’t defeat those two? She couldn’t believe it!

The Grandmaster chuckled. ”Wait here.”

She then left and came back with a confused Aiko under her arm. ”Grandma?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Fight her in your human form and then you can leave once again.” The Grandmaster petted Aiko’s head.

”Uh... I don’t think that’s a good idea...” Aiko tried to wiggle out of it.

”Or you can join our-” Before the Grandmaster could finish, Aiko was already in front of the Umbra Fox.

”I will fight!” She yelped and then turned at the Umbra Fox. ”My apologies, but my comfort depends on this.” Aiko apologized to the Umbra Fox.

”It’s not clear who will win.” The Umbra Fox narrowed her eyes, upset at the fact that the Vicious Cub underestimated her.

”You can start.” The Grandmaster said dismissively and the Umbra Fox dashed at the Vicious Cub... but the Vicious Cub was no longer there.

’Where is she?!’ The Umbra Fox looked around cautiously, but then something hard hit her on the back of her head and she passed out.

”Ah!” Aiko panicked. She didn’t think she would fall so easily!

”She is alright, you can return.” The Grandmaster pursed her lips, she didn’t expect this little one to be so ruthless. ’Maybe the Passion Fox is closer in strength?’ She thought.

Aiko left humming, she was happy that she didn’t need to attend this training, but she was also concerned about the Umbra Fox’s wellbeing, yet this concern was short lived when weighted against the hellish thought of staying with the devil known as the Grandmaster for another second.

...

The Umbra Fox woke up with a headache and stared listlessly around.

”Do you understand now?” The Grandmaster chuckled. ”She doesn’t grow like a normal Fox. That is also one of the reasons why I have taken her in, since her growth will be worthwhile.” She smiled. ’We also can’t allow those old bastards to take her in or our faction would be pretty much done for.’ She sighed.

The Umbra Fox was much tamer than before now that her short-lived pride was shattered in a mere instant. She vowed to never stick her neck out so much and would obediently listen to the Grandmaster as this whole thing was an eye-opener for her.

’Who cares about my peers when someone younger than me is so much stronger...’ The Umbra Fox clutched her fists.

”Let’s train.” The Grandmaster put down the Jade Slip and stood up with a wooden sword in her hand.

”Yes.” The Umbra Fox nodded and stood up. She ignored the headache and readied herself for combat.

The Grandmaster delivered strikes and stabs, but the Umbra Fox was able to dodge most of them.

The rest were shielded by her own wooden sword.

”You flail too much, if you want to become a proper Assassin you can’t allow your enemy to injure you, or it’s game over.” The Grandmaster reprimanded. ”You can’t wear normal armour as the Qi imprint would make you into a light shining in the dark. You can’t use shields as they are large and heavy. You need to dodge everything and counterattack at other times.”

The Umbra Fox tried to jump around like a rabbit, but she would always be struck down by the Grandmaster.

”Don’t jump willy-nilly, I already told you that you flail too much. Keep it to the ground. If you jump and you are not the Vicious Cub with second jump, you can’t dodge mid-air.” The Grandmaster scolded her.

The Umbra Fox nodded and they continued to battle, but the Grandmaster was smiling the whole way as if pleased.

...

Aiko returned and plopped on those 11/10 tails. She was incredibly happy that the Blood Fox didn’t move and stood still. That could allow her to learn and rest properly, unlike some other 10/10 tails which moved all the time, because of the Herb refining.

Aiko yawned and focused on learning...

...

Aiko woke up again. An additional 2 months passed. She learned a total of 2,000 Herbs. This speed was not enough for her, but she couldn’t think about it for too long.

”Look at what I have.” A soothing voice drifted into her ears. It was Mei with a soothing expression.

”What is it?” Aiko stood up and walked near Mei.

The Blood Fox glared at the Jade Fox but didn’t say anything. Aiko would return soon and her tails would not feel so lon- no wait! She is not doing it because of that, but because she wants to get rid of those voices! The Blood Fox nodded to herself, clearing her delusions.

Aiko sat down near Mei and stared at those strange pieces of metal for a while before it clicked.

”The moving parts of the Massage Chair?!” Aiko cried out happily.

Mei nodded gently, but she didn’t expect that Aiko would jump on her, hugging her.

”Thank youuuu~~” Aiko hummed happily, she was so bored out of her mind and she didn’t want to use the system on this as she was trying to save up Skill Points. This situation would help her recharge her batteries and maybe she could convince Mei that ten thousa- No! Five thousand Herbs would be enough to learn!

Aiko was very passionate about this whole situation, but Mei already knew that she was trying to run away from learning the Herbs.

”Do you still have the blueprint?” Mei asked gently, but she then haughtily looked at the Blood Fox.

The Blood Fox glared back at the Jade Fox. She would drag her to fight later that day.

Aiko pulled out the blueprint. ”I’m not sure how well I can do with my current... state. If I draw them too slowly, the material will crumble to dust.” Aiko frowned. ”At the same time, my Beast Core Energy will deplete at a faster rate, so I will have to rest a lot more.” Aiko didn’t like this whole idea, but it was much better than learning Herbs. If push came to shove, she would buy some kind of Skill to quickly learn the Herbs so she could be free.

At the same time, she didn’t like the idea of overly relying on the system as her points were currently limited, if she could farm her Skill Points she would not be as reluctant...

Aiko picked up her Inscription Carving Pen, but it was already obvious that she would not do well, as her hand was simply too clumsy. She then had an idea. How about she carved it first and then just used the Pen to fill in the Inscription Ink? She could definitely try that.

Aiko took the Inscription Carving Pen, but without ink and slowly carved into the metal...

...

A week had passed and Aiko finished the first engraving. She dipped the Inscription Carving Pen in Inscription Ink and filled the grooves with it.

The Inscription lit up at intervals, notifying Aiko that they work correctly and it took her only about 2 hours and 5,000 Beast Core Energy to finish that work.

The Inscription worked, as this whole piece was very slippery, but it also didn’t turn to dust, so the Qi Gathering Inscription worked too.

Aiko nodded in satisfaction, now she just needed... another 84 pieces...

She stared at it blankly and her enthusiasm declined greatly.

Aiko sighed and scrunched her face. She would meditate to recover her Beast Core Energy and fill her ’Elemental Spirit’ at the same time. It would still take a long way to create this, so she could meditate after engraving for a bit.

Aiko looked over the first Inscribed piece. She noticed that Inscriptions created from engraving first and then filled with Inscription Ink were much weaker than engraving into it directly with the ink, however that didn’t make them worthless.

There are not many Inscription Masters in this continent and most of them have too big of a pride to sell their stuff to everyone.

If she could Inscribe the Runes and have someone fill them...

Aiko smirked, she could sell a lot of them while keeping her Beast Core Energy somewhat the same. Aiko giggled sinisterly and they all looked at her, shaking their heads.

...

2 weeks passed. Aiko was getting more familiar with the engravings and grooves. She had a total of 3 finished parts out of the total of 86... which was not much, but this was a good learning experience.

[Elemental Spirit: [Seed of ####; 89,540/100,000->91,220/100,000]]

’Slow... but it will get there.’ Aiko thought. She could maintain her Beast Core Energy because of the [Lunar Nurturing Meditation] Ability, but also because for some reason Mei showered her with good food.

Naturally, Aiko didn’t say anything about eating in the town, as that food was nowhere near close to the divinely tasting food that Mei cooked.

In these days, the Blood Fox would often glare at Mei and leave with her periodically, only for the both of them to return in a haggard state with torn clothes.

Aiko smirked at them at first, but Mei slapped her head for that, so from that point onwards, she didn’t care about them and just focused on her Inscriptions...